"i never thought the stock RK alternator had a lot of extra capacity"
I felt the same at one time but after more than 2 years and tens of thousands of miles with a Liberty sidecar on my Road King with a stock alternator I've not had any problems and my wife and I go out on it in cold weather both wearing Gerbings heated outfits, all the lights on and so forth. It seems up to the job. I sometimes put it on a battery tender but usually don't. I don't think you'll need to worry too much unless you've got a bunch of other electrical accessories tacked on.
Originally written by archon on 2/1/2008 4:30 PM
"i never thought the stock RK alternator had a lot of extra capacity"
I felt the same at one time but after more than 2 years and tens of thousands of miles with a Liberty sidecar on my Road King with a stock alternator I've not had any problems and my wife and I go out on it in cold weather both wearing Gerbings heated outfits, all the lights on and so forth. It seems up to the job. I sometimes put it on a battery tender but usually don't. I don't think you'll need to worry too much unless you've got a bunch of other electrical accessories tacked on. [/QUOTE
I'm sure that Road Kings have 40 amp alternators. The Ultras, as I said, were a little larger at 45 and now 50 amps. Since the Ultra has a battery backup for the clock and radio settings, it has a noticeable draw when parked. Thus, I leave it on a Battery Tender, Jr. when parked. That way, the battery is always at 13.2 volts. That and the fact that the later Harley batteries are AGM sesled-type makes for good service.
